by Dana Halawi
BEIRUT, Dec. 2 (Xinhua) -- Dima Mansour sits at a table holding her mobile phone in one hand and a notebook full of names and phone numbers in the other, busy telling the person on the other side of the line that her coffee shop can no longer take more reservations.
The Azmi coffee shop, located in the heart of the capital Beirut, is already fully booked for the coming week by people who are watching the football games of World Cup 2022.
The story is the same in other coffee shops in Lebanon, where thousands of people swarmed in every day as the country fails to secure the rights to broadcast the World Cup on public TV channels.
Lebanon is currently operating without a president and its caretaker cabinet only functions with limited powers, making it impossible to approve the funds required by overseas broadcasters.
The situation came to the benefit of many coffee shops, which had paid Sama, the official distributor of beIN sports, for the games of World Cup 2022.
Although it cost more than 3,000 U.S. dollars to broadcast the games, coffee shop managers told Xinhua that the cost could be covered through the "world cup packages" they offered to clients.
Leticia Zahlani, a marketing manager at Falamanki coffee shop, told Xinhua that she offers her clients a World Cup package of 30 U.S. dollars, which includes a set menu with desserts and drinks.
"For those who don't want to pay 30 dollars for our set menu, they can pay about 6 U.S. dollars per person to sit and watch the games and pay extra for their food," she explained.
Zahlani said her coffee shop has seen full reservations since the start of the games on Nov. 20.
"People are fed up with the multiple crises they've seen in Lebanon over the past two years, and they want to be happy again," she said.
Alaa Issa, a manager at Veranda, a coffee shop and restaurant in Achrafieh in eastern Beirut, said they've started receiving reservations for the final game.
"Most people could not afford the luxury to watch the games at home by paying subscriptions to service providers. They also feel more excited watching football games in groups," Issa told Xinhua.
A sales representative at a leading digital cable TV provider in Lebanon told Xinhua that the World Cup package his company offered is 90 U.S. dollars, a price not everyone could afford.
Rami Ayoub, a 35-year-old football fan, told Xinhua that he only watches the games of his favorite team at the coffee shops.
"I'd rather watch a few games and save some bucks amid the current economic crisis," he said.
Yet in a country where the financial crisis has devalued the local currency by more than 90 percent, many people have totally been deprived of the pleasure of watching the games.
Social media channels were flooded with posts and messages from people complaining about the absence of free access to the World Cup in Lebanon. Others publicly asked their friends about free internet links to watch the games online. ■
